Italy launches probe into Microsoft over automatic upgrade to costlier AI subscriptions

Italy’s antitrust watchdog has announced an official investigation into tech giant Microsoft over alleged unfair and aggressive commercial practices regarding the price increases for its popular “Microsoft 365” subscription service. According to a report by news agency Reuters, the Italian Competition Authority stated that the software company failed to properly inform everyday consumers that it was baking its new artificial intelligence (AI) tools, “Copilot” and “Designer,” into the standard Microsoft 365 package, and passing the bill onto the users.

The regulatory watchdog says that Microsoft automatically migrated existing customers into a more expensive subscription tier that included the new AI features.